This is NOT French Corsica BUT is it Akaroa,New Zealand(a little bit of France in New Zealand)

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We were supposed to have visited Corsica in the Med back in May but COVID-19 reared its ugly head just before we were due to leave New Zealand and of course we didn't even get onto the aeroplane to take us to Auckland and then faraway places.

Instead we traded our Air NZ tickets for flights to and from Christchurch and here we are Day One flying from Tauranga to Christchurch in the Air NZ Bombardier Q300 with a full load of travellers,many in holiday mode.

Leaving Tauranga the weather looked threatening to the west,which was to be our takeover route and the pilot did warn of 'a few bumps' we would experience during the near 2 hour flight to Christchurch.

We are sure he really meant 'air turbulence' as 'a few bumps' to us was more for driving a car along a rough road than the sleek lines of the Q300 with about 48 seats.

However,the flight didn't go too badly for the first 45 minutes until we neared Wellington flying south over the Wairarapa.The pilot was back on the address system warning us again of 'a few bumps' 'which would only last 5 or 10 minutes'.

And right he was for as we cruised on at 20,000 odd feet with the snow capped Kaikoura mountains coming into view on the right hand side of the aircraft,the flight smoothed out.

Not that we are sure how we would react should our stomachs get the better of us during 'the bumps'given that we were both wearing face masks,still required by Air NZ and the Government,even though, we, living south of Auckland,were all now in Level 1 again !

An interesting addition to the sweet selection on our flight was a very sweet and sugary offering of a piece of Russian Fudge.And this was in addition to the offer of water,tea,coffee and biscuit,which we are all used to flying domestically with Air NZ.

With the aircraft into descent the pilot came back to tell us that with the strong westerly blowing in Christchurch 'we will probably experience a few more 'bumps'.

With Banks Peninsula in the left foreground the aircraft took a right hand turn and eased its way westwards towards the runway of Christchurch Airport.

Something neither of us had seen from the air before,despite having flown into Christchurch a couple of times since the earthquakes of 10 years ago that altered the city immeasurably,was the great tracks of land where houses had been cleared after being damaged extensively and the ground beneath the houses being considered too unstable to build on that area ever again.The cleared areas were dotted here and there especially in the eastern suburbs with some of those areas being given over to new green spaces while other areas still looked 'raw and undeveloped'10 years on.

We emerged from the aircraft into warm 20C temperature with the fresh westerly breeze actually making it feel even warmer.

But before we emerged, we initially were very impressed by the control of the passengers, who were asked by the flight attendant not to stand until the passengers in front of them had vacated their seats and moved forward towards the aircraft front door.This lasted about 3 rows, we reckon before it descended the usual 'rugby scrum' and social distancing went out the front door !

The rental car firm we had used our prepaid booking in the UK on to book a car for the 10 day trip was just a short courtesay coach trip away from the airport terminal and we were soon on our way in the roomy Toyota Corolla Estate heading down Highway 1 looking for Highway 75 to take us around the inland edge of Banks Peninsula and then over the steep hills and down the other side to Akaroa for a 2 night stay at 'The Wharf'.

The drive heading south was easy going and you really do get a feel that you are in another country,not just another island,with the excellent state of the roads,traffic at about half the volume of our home town of Tauranga,and the flat open spaces of the rural countryside right on the doorstep on New Zealand's second largest city.Who needs to travel thousands of kilometres overseas when we have all this on our doorstep.......perhaps COVID 19 isn't so bad?

We arrived into Akaroa around 6pm with the temperature still hovering around 20C and sun brightly shining on the expansive harbour.

Driving slowly along through the township it was easy to see that tomorrow will be a day of sightseeing amongst New Zealand's 'little piece of France'.

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